Tag Archives: about me

Baby Max has arrived

21 May

Sorry – long time no talk! I haven’t written anything in a week or three as our baby finally arrived!

He arrived!!


max hospital

Max was born at the end of April – it was a fairly quick labour and nice and pain free thanks to the epidural I made sure I had! I read lots of articles about having a fully natural labour and decided not being great with pain I would reduce the stress on me and Max and go for pain relief. Very thankful I did – although the administering of the epidural was not the best!

I have to say the pregnancy was a shocker but worth every last ounce of nausea, reflux, back pain etc for what I got in return. My friend who is also my doctor said to me that the pregnancy was worse than the birth as the birth is like a marathon to get through in one day whereas the pregnancy is nine months of discomfort! She was so right!  My stomach muscles certainly got some use in the labour and I just imagined I was in an exercise class and pushed as hard as I could and he was out within 12 pushes :-)My little boy is the most precious thing I have ever seen and we are delighted as parents that everything went ok.

I spent a few emotional days looking at Max in amazement that he was finally born and felt so great – no more sickness yay! We’ve spent the last 2 weeks sleeping when we can, feeding him and helping him get to sleep – it’s certainly been a challenge as I am sure any mums reading will know 🙂

Gearing back up to train!

Max buggy

First day out with max in the babyjogger – it was so good just to get out and start to feel ready to train again.

Fitness wise I am raring to go. Thanks to a natural birth I have pretty much recovered, belly has gone down – still a little way to go but I was amazed at how quickly belly disappeared and I am back into my first trimester maternity clothes and not worrying too much right now about getting all the weight off. I have an appointment with my obstetricians physio then hoping I will be signed off to start to slowly get back into training! I’m a bit nervous as I haven’t run in a very long time but I am looking forward to putting my trainers on and giving it a go. Going to join a gym again and I recently took Max out for a little walk in the stroller which was great. He seemed to like it and I loved just getting out and about and feeling like I was ready to start training again 🙂

Rave products helping me at the moment 

I have found some products invaluable to me at this time helping me with my postpartum recovery and just having a baby in general. Here are my top 5.

1. SRC Recovery Shorts 

These are amazing and I will review in more detail in a separate post. They are great for both natural birth recovery or C section recovery and I am convinced they have helped everything to go down a bit more i.e. my tummy and also for my ability to walk easier and not be in discomfort.

2. Ultimate Sleep Breast Feeding Pillow 

Again I will write a separate post on this but having already tried two other pillows this pillow which is endorsed by the Australian Breastfeeding Association is so comfortable to use and also great to just stick in the washing machine when it gets dirty – very handy!

3. Lansinoh – my saviour! Nipple cream (sorry to any men reading this! might be too much information!)

Lansinoh has been awesome in keeping me sane and helping me to recover from the toe curling start of breast feeding when baby decides to bite the hell out of those sensitive parts of the breast!

4. Baby Cam 🙂

My husband installed a baby cam by Max’s bassinet so that when I pop out and he is looking after him I can check my phone and see him sleeping – priceless 🙂 I love being able to check on him at all times!

5. Exercise Ball

My exercise ball has been very helpful for both mobility for me – getting me used to just moving a bit again and also bouncing Max gently when he doesn’t want to sleep 🙂

Anyway I’ll be trying to write more frequently to keep you posted with my journey back to fitness – happy running! Here’s just one more photo of Max from his proud mumma!

max

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Kickstarting training with a detox

9 Oct

The last few weeks have seriously been a blur. I had three work events in three weeks and I am still recovering now. We had an open day, then an event in Rocky for 4 days and then an event in Brisbane for 4 days and whilst I assured myself before they all started that I would still have plenty of time for training I didn’t.

I was ready to run in Rocky but the man at the hotel told me not to run around where we were staying and there was no gym, so I managed a P90x session one day but none of the others as I was shattered from the event! Last week in Brisbane I was so stressed and tired each day from the drive into the city and back each day that I didn’t do much training either – I managed ballet on the Tuesday and that was about it. So I decided enough was enough as I had eaten what I wanted to and whatever was put in front of me and have been riding a sugar high. On that same day my husband came home from the gym and said ‘Zoe I’m fat!’ – so I decided that a two week detox was in order. we’re on day 2!

I try and do theJason Vale Juice Master 14 day detox programonce a year if I can. It’s hard especially the first few days but it really kickstarts the metabolism and the healthy eating although I can’t do as intensive training as I am used to until it’s over.

Yesterday was hard as my system didn’t know what had hit it and I had juice for breakfast, hummus and pitta for lunch and then a protein based dish in the evening. I was so tired that I couldn’t get out and run and even had a nap in the afternoon. I had a headache all day probably from the sugar withdrawal  and that has continued into today but I’m feeling good, just very grumpy! I did body pump and cycling this morning and plan to start running again tomorrow so hopefully I won’t be like a bear with a sore head running round Forest lake!

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How do you know if you are overtraining?

16 Jun

Have you ever been an overtrainer?

I have.

I went through a period where I wanted to train and train, and my times got really good and I didn’t want to rest because I was worried I would lose my fitness (in one day yeah!).

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my running and my going to the gym. I have found that now I have relaxed a bit more about it  all, and am not stressing about whether I miss a run or whether I am slow – that my running and general well being has improved. I’m still pushing hard and running and doing classes but my attitude is different and I take rest days 🙂

How do you know if you are overtraining?

The way I know now from experience of overtraining now is that:

  • I am tired and lethargic all the time and it’s an effort to even get out of bed let alone to get to training
  • I find that my running times get slower rather than faster even though I am training hard
  • I get very grumpy and irritable. My poor husband cops it, although he knows now to hide and leave me alone!
  • I get sick and then sick again and always seem to feel sick and not 100% – I went through a period of training really hard but I would hit a plateau and get sick and get knocked back down again and then have to work to get back to where I was
Did you know there is actually an overtraining syndrome? There’s quite a lot of research that has been done into it and many elite athletes suffer with it as do us normal people. It’s basically defined as ‘a collapse in performance that occurs when the body gets pushed beyond its capacity to recover’, and the issue is often not a problem of too much training, but of too little rest according to Kristen Dieffebbach, PHD – an assistant professor of athletic coaching at West Virginia University.
Many of my friends and myself also have very busy lives and we fit our training in by juggling schedules and getting up at unearthly hours, so we are at risk of overtraining and not resting enough as much as anyone else. It’s an issue I have become more and more aware of since being in Australia. Fitness is a big thing here if you are into it, it’s all or nothing.
There isn’t a magic pill to take to ensure you don’t overtrain, it’s just common sense really. make sure you rest and have a good work, life and exercise balance. I don’t claim to be an expert on these matters but just go on what I have been through or witnessed.

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Change of direction

3 Jun

I’m thinking about swimming.

One of the girls that I know that goes to the gym is a triathlete and put the idea in my head of swimming in order to tone and improve my fitness. I’ve been feeling a bit fat and untoned so I mentioned this to her and she said what about swimming?

The idea of swimming to me was initially not that great. The thought of me baring almost all to get into a pool and swim was not inviting but then I thought some more. I figure swimming is good for all round toning, it would complement my running and it’s not as taxing on the joints.

So I went out last weekend in Noosa and bought myself a nice fancy looking swimming costume and I told my friend yes I’m going to swim – so I have to now!

So watch this space, you never know I could find myself doing a triathlon – highly unlikely but then again I used to always say I’d never run a marathon and I’ve run four……

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I’m definitely not an ultra runner!

14 Apr

I’m sat at home watching a documentary about three guys who challenged themselves to run across the whole of the Sahara. It’s inspiring but hasn’t inspired me to want to do the same! 7000 km + is a long way to run for 12 hours at a time in 140 degree ground temperature and eating camel for food!

It makes you realise  though just what we are potentially capable of if we put our minds to it. I’m finding myself slightly addicted to watching and reading extreme running books and dvds at the moment to get some motivation for my comparably short runs.

I’ve had a pretty bad week as you will know if you read my previous post, and next week I intend to have a recovery week and then I think I’ll be  ready to do last minute training for the Mothers Day 8k. I feel like someone has just got all my energy and taken it and given it to someone else.  I seem to have this a couple of times a year and then usually bounce back – it’s like my body decides it needs a full on rest and breaks down until it gets it – so I listen to it now, I never used to and would push on through.

I think a rest is in order for tomorrow morning and then it is rock climbing tomorrow night and a 10kish run on Saturday.

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Exhilarating day and not an ounce of running done!

8 Apr

I have to confess, I slept in this morning!

I did however do a hard sprint session last night – I didn’t feel like I did very well though.

You know when you have those training sessions and you just don’t seem to have gotten anywhere and you’ve stopped and started and you wonder whether it was worth doing to begin with? well yes it was one of those! My wonderful friend was also right next to me on the treadmill which didn’t help as all I wanted to do was chat to her and found excuses not to run too hard! But I did a few good speed intervals – it was a hard one last night – thanks Roger!

So yes today I slept in. I haven’t stopped at work today – it’s been crazy racing around as I am launching a new website for them – so I’ve had a productive and exhilarating day but haven’t done an ounce of exercise !

I’ll make up for it tomorrow though as I’m running 10k and going to BodyPump 🙂

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Coming down with something the day before a race – not ideal…

5 Mar

So I have been gearing up for my first race for a good couple of months now. Woke up this morning and felt ok but it’s 8pm now and I have slowly felt worse and worse as the day has gone on and my race is tomorrow !

I’ve drunk plenty of fluids, had my carbs, had some vitamin c and garlic capsules, and smothered myself with Vicks so here’s hoping I wake up tomorrow and feel better. It’s only a short race but short = short, sharp and fast so not ideal when your chest feels like you have 50 people sitting on it!

I’ll let you know how it goes…

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