Typically, the amount of energy required to get you going (the activation energy, or Eact) is far higher than the amount needed to keep you going. This Eact can be decreased through the use of a catalyst. Obviously, Mrs. outofsalt merely needs to apply the proper catalyst.
True in many cases of both chemistry and physics, but not necessarily so in LENR.
There have been cases with gas-loaded systems in which the LENR reaction HAS STARTED SPONTANEOUSLY without a long induction phase or high energy startup conditions. I believe that was done by either Miles or Miley (too many sound-alike names in the LENR business) in a zirconia-palladium-deuterium matrix.
And the induction time has been getting shorter and shorter as knowledge has been gained, even for electrolysis-based systems. Co-deposition of palladium and deuterium has sped things up a lot. and increased the percentage of successful (excess heat generating) runs.
Read Beaudette's book yet???